a. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to grilles for motor vehicles and the like, and, more particularly to devices for facilitating opening of a hood having a grille attached thereto and for preventing slamming of the grille into other components during closing of the hood.
b. Description of Related Art
As is known in the art, motor vehicle grilles are generally mounted to a hood or to a vehicle body or bumper for providing a source of ventilation for the radiator and the engine compartment, as well as for serving as a protective barrier for preventing contaminants from entering into the engine compartment. Compared to cars, trucks generally have significantly larger grilles that are often attached to the upper edge of the hood for aesthetic or other operational purposes. For example, attachment of the grille to the hood as opposed to the bumper may be necessitated by assembly feasibility and/or government crash regulations for automobile bumpers.
For trucks including a hood having a grille attached thereto, the hood structure is therefore significantly longer than that of cars. When a truck hood is closed, the grille can vibrate or contact a closure restraint with excessive force. Alternatively, when the truck is in motion, the grille can be a source of vibration.
It would therefore be of benefit to provide a structure for minimizing grille vibrations during movement of a truck, as well as for minimizing grille impact forces during closing of the hood.
Yet further, in order to comply with government regulations, a hood release generally includes a two-stage release process. First the hood may be partially release by pulling a release lever from the inside of a vehicle, and secondly, the hood may be fully released by activating a secondary release lever provided adjacent the hood front edge. For trucks, due to the integration of the grille at the front edge of the hood, this release function further requires modification and optimal design of the general secondary release to accommodate for the grille.
Because of the limited space in today's modern vehicles, the mechanism for providing the aforementioned hood release operation and its associated wiring, as well as the mechanism for controlling hood vibrations during vehicle movement and during hood closing must be adequately designed.
Exemplary structures for facilitating release of vehicle hoods and for controlling hood vibrations are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,496 and Japanese Patent No. 05-033537.
While the respective mechanisms disclosed in the aforementioned patents provide vibration control and hood release functions, it would nevertheless be of benefit to provide an improved hood release and vibration control mechanism operable with trucks and the like having a grille mounted to the front edge of the hood. It would also be of benefit to provide a mechanism which is simple to manufacture and assemble onto existing vehicles having hood/grille combinations without requiring significant redesign of the hood, grille or adjacent areas.